Daahn Rising

by Lyons, Brenna

  “I’m Doctor Rayn, head of Xxanian studies.” He motioned to one after another, firing off names and job descriptions.

  The one he’d identified as Doctor Tamsen reached for Zondra, and she recoiled behind Evan. Before she could reason herself out of the instinctual response, Evan had planted himself firmly between them.

  Pap Mac slid a glance over them and took a step closer, blocking any attempt Tamsen might make to reach around Evan. “Your men don’t know better than this, Steve?”

  Dr. Rayn scowled at Tamsen, and the latter darkened in a flush.

  “We hadn’t anticipated such a powerful bond between them, considering how long they’ve been separated.” He tipped his head to Evan. “Our apologies. I assume you’ll want to be present for Zondra’s testing.”

  “Expect it.” His muscles were strung tight, and the Dominant show made his scent even more enticing.

  Zondra wrapped herself around him, burying her face in his throat, moaning at the heavy musk she’d soon carry. She looked up and met Rayn’s startled gaze.

  The head scientist cleared his throat. “You couldn’t stop them?”

  “Did you really think I could?” Pap Mac countered. “Duncan was still affected when we got to him. We’re lucky he didn’t launch into a killing rage.”

  “And he stayed away how long?” Tamsen gushed out.

  “Can we get this over with?” Evan barked in return. “I don’t intend to wait forever to finish getting acquainted with my mate.”

  The scientists shot wary glances at one another.

  “What is that look for?” he demanded.

  Rayn cleared his throat. “We need you to abstain for a while.”

  “How... long?”

  Zondra inhaled his increased scent. By the Seir-God! As hard as it was going to be on Evan, it was going to be just as hard on her. And there was no way Evan would allow them to be separated while they waited. She repeated his question.

  “That depends on the two of you.”

  ****

  “You need to do what?” Evan asked in disbelief.

  Dr. Rayn’s assistant peeked around nervously. “We need to get a mold of your erect length to make the collection bags from.”

  “And you’ll do this... how, precisely?”

  “You need to be erect for ten minutes. And still. You definitely need to stand still for it.”

  Words deserted him. Out of the corner of his eye, Evan saw Zondra smirking. He scowled at her. “You think this is funny.”

  “Well... yes. I guess. But I don’t see the problem. I can keep you erect for that long, easily.”

  “Yeah. Erect but without any chance of sating myself.” He wanted to grumble curses at the scientists for their decreed moratorium on sex.

  The assistant looked to the far corner of the room, probably issuing a silent plea for someone else to tell Evan he wasn’t getting any. He nodded. “One time, after the mold is completed,” he agreed. “But then —”

  “Nothing until the collection begins,” Evan parroted.

  “The good news is —”

  “There is some? Stars be praised.” He was being sarcastic and more than a little juvenile, but the lack — with Zondra around to stimulate his senses — was unbearable.

  The assistant darkened to crimson. He cleared his throat. “The good news is that, once the mold is made, we can have the first of the collection bags made in about two hours. After that, it will be whatever you want until we’ve collected enough of your various fluids. As long as you use the collection bags every time, that is.”

  That was enough to make him hard. “You better clear out the minute that mold comes off my cock, because I’m not waiting for anything.” And he certainly wasn’t going to stand for someone watching him have sex with Zondra. He’d regained that much control over himself.

  “Got it. Anytime you’re ready, Duncan.”

  Zondra turned toward him, her hands going to work on his trousers.

  Evan lowered his head and inhaled her pungent Zhigaaah. It seemed sex with him had strengthened it again. It wasn’t enough to smell it. He sucked at her throat, leaving love bites in his wake while he feasted on the musk.

  The door behind him closed, most probably some of the scientists clearing out. The assistant remained.

  She stroked him, moaning against his temple. His trousers retreated, baring his ass to whichever scientists remained across the room.

  The assistant opened a metal lid at the edge of the table.

  Evan glared at the semisolid mass in the receptacle beneath. “I see you were prepared for this,” he grumbled. And did it have to be pink?

  Zondra nibbled at his earlobe and thrust her hips against his.

  “Oh yeah. That was the visualization I needed.” Evan lifted her by the waist and settled Zondra on the table, her legs spread around the pot of pink goo. There were appealing pink places that he could use to make him forget where he was really placing his cock.

  She wrapped her legs around him and dragged Evan toward her body. Forcing himself to angle his cock down into the waiting mold material took all his newly recovered self-control.

  “All the way in,” the assistant reminded him. “Balls, too.”

  “Fuck off,” Evan grumbled.

  Zondra urged him closer to her, and Evan grimaced at the warm ooze sucking at the base of his balls. The urge to pull out and tell them to get bent rode him hard.

  “That’s right,” the intruder complimented him. “Now just hold it there for ten minutes.”

  “You want to eat this shit?” Evan snapped.

  The offensive little man retreated, and Evan focused on Zondra.

  She dipped her head and laid kisses on his chest. Her nimble little fingers undid the few buttons he’d fastened on his shirt. When they were all open, she straightened and pressed her lips to his chin, inviting his face down.

  Their kisses were deep and slow. Zondra wrapped her hands around his waist. At every shift of his weight, Zondra dug in her nails or tightened her legs to remind him not to move.

  Evan growled in frustration.

  “Do you want to do this twice?” she asked.

  “And wait longer than two hours? Not a chance.”

  Zondra stretched up and nibbled at his lips. “Then we should get on with this, I think.”

  “Five more minutes,” Rayn’s assistant murmured.

  Just five minutes. Already half done.

  It was endless.

  Waiting the two hours will be worse. By far.

  Just kiss her. Surely he could spend five minutes kissing Zondra.

  It was easier thought than done. By the time the assistant announced four minutes left, his muscles were strung tight in restraint. Another minute and sweat rolled down his bare chest. Another...

  Stars burn, a second attempt doesn’t sound that bad, if I can have her now.

  “Okay. Let me get you out of that.” The young man moved closer and reached between them.

  Evan tensed, then calmed in the realization that he was reaching for the hardening goo. “I thought you said ten minutes,” he complained.

  “I lied. I knew it would take a minute or two to get you out of this. If I told you eight and took two more —”

  “I’d’ve kicked your ass,” Evan assured him.

  The assistant chuckled darkly. “Good thing I lied to you then.”

  Against his better judgment, Evan smiled. “You’re okay, kid.”

  “Tim. Tim Carew.”

  The solidified mass pulled away from Evan’s body with an odd tingling sensation. Tim waved him back, and his cock slid free.

  “Great. Now if you don’t mind —”

  Carew pulled the receptacle out of the table. “I get it. There’s a bed through there.” He jerked his thumb toward the door opposite the corridor. “If you can wait that long.”

  With that, he was gone through the corridor door. It closed behind him.

  Zondra started working her skirt up. Evan took
one look at the view, scooped her up, and headed for the promised bed.

  ****

  There was no denying that Evan was at the edges of control. Zondra wasn’t certain what he’d do when they reached the bed, but it would be an adventure. She was sure that the next two hours would drive them both nearly mad.

  His grumbled curse brought her head around. Zondra didn’t have to question what had him so pissed off.

  The mirror took up the top half and two-thirds of the length of the wall to the left of the king-size bed. There was little question it was a two-way mirror with an observation room on the opposite side.

  “I am covering that fucking thing,” he promised.

  The speaker in the wall next to the mirror squawked. “Not this time, Duncan.”

  Rayn. Zondra considered shooting a rude Xxanian gesture at the mirrors.

  The head doctor continued. “And not in the bathroom either. Not now.”

  “I said I wasn’t going to put up with anyone watching us,” Evan warned him.

  Zondra silently offered her agreement. If there was one thing a Xxanian woman learned, it was to stay out of a battle between Dominants, and she didn’t doubt that Rayn was a human alpha, though she hadn’t tongue-scented the human to be sure.

  As if proving that point, Rayn pushed back. “Are you saying you can promise you won’t break the rules set for you?” the scientist asked with exaggerated calm.

  Evan’s muscles tightened down, and he seemed about to tell Rayn where he could shove his rules.

  “It’s simple, Duncan. Either I can sedate you for the next two hours, or I can make sure you follow orders.”

  Evan opened his mouth to retort.

  “Not to mention, if you keep wasting semen and musk we could be collecting, we’ll have to use the collection bags longer.” Rayn paused a moment. “Maybe a few days longer. Maybe a week. Typically I wouldn’t allow you to have sex again at all until we were collecting.”

  Allow? Zondra bristled at that and knew it was seriously pissing Evan off.

  Is it intended to? She was sure Rayn wasn’t oblivious to the instincts of a mating male. That meant he had to be doing this on purpose. Doesn’t it?

  Evan’s mouth snapped shut with a clack of teeth against teeth.

  “So, Duncan. What’s it going to be?”

  “Fuck!”

  “I’m sure that’s your choice as well,” Rayn taunted.

  “When this is over, I’ll feed you those words... along with my fucking fist.”

  “So every Xxanian male I’ve dealt with in the last thirty years has threatened, more or less. Until then, you need me, and you will follow my rules, Duncan.”

  He’s challenging Evan to make his musk more potent. It was brilliant but suicidal. Rayn had a serious set of balls to do this to a male involved in mating.

  “And when this is over, and I don’t need you?” Evan countered.

  Rayn’s chuckle was dark and somewhat mean. “I manage to stay out of a Dominant’s path until mating settles him.”

  Zondra bit back a smile at that.

  “Awfully sure of that. Aren’t you?”

  “As sure as I am that you’re about to choose to have sex with your mate and find some way to keep me from seeing her body.”

  Evan hesitated long enough to make Zondra wriggle nervously in his arms.

  “You’re damned right I am,” he growled.

  “See? You only wasted five minutes arguing with me, coming to that decision.”

  Before Evan could reply, the speaker clicked off.

  “Fucking asshole.”

  Telling him Rayn had good reason to taunt him and torture him would be counterproductive, so Zondra kept her mouth shut. The more potent the musk, the less time they’d need to collect it, most likely.

  Maybe I’ll tell him once we’re mated. A completely outrageous thought made her smile. Maybe that’s how Rayn has survived this long.

  Her smile faded at the sight of Evan glaring at the mirror.

  Let him. The more time he wastes, the less time we have to wait later.

  He didn’t waste much time at all. Evan settled her in the middle of the mattress, her back to the mirror. Zondra started to peel his T-shirt off, but a sharp hiss from Evan brought her up short with the cotton blend material gathered beneath her breasts. He motioned downward with his eyes, and she smoothed the fabric to her waist.

  That settled, Evan dragged the button-down shirt over his shoulders and dropped it to the mattress. Zondra stared up at him, her mouth-watering at the sight of all that luscious man.

  And he’s mine.

  In the next breath, he was between her knees, his mouth parting hers. The kiss was hard and deep and tasted of a challenge.

  Most likely a challenge to Rayn.

  Zondra followed Evan’s lead, though she ached to be skin to skin with him.

  One hand kneaded a breast. The other traced the line of her hip from front to back, pausing at her spine. Then he slid it down and cupped her ass through the layer of skirt. Her breathing went ragged that simply.

  His voice was slightly muffled against her chin and throat. “I made you a promise, and I always keep my promises.”

  He did? Zondra would fully admit that her nearly photographic memory had deserted her. She couldn’t remember what he’d promised her, though she was sure it was sexual in nature.

  As if in answer, Evan lifted her and sucked her breast into the heat of his mouth.

  “I’m going to spend a long, leisurely time sucking those pretty titties.”

  That was the promise he’d made. The decree. Zondra reached up and tunneled her fingers in his light brown hair.

  There was nothing leisurely about what Evan was doing to her. The suction was bruising in its intensity.

  Marks. She understood perfectly why he wanted to leave marks of ownership on her. While human men often disregarded scent, marking was a sign they wouldn’t miss. Especially the human doctors that have only done the most preliminary testing on me so far.

  His sucking became harder and more avid, first one breast and then the other, back and forth, until she felt she would come from that alone. Zondra looked between their bodies, a mew of pleasure escaping at the sight of her swollen nipples, clearly visible through the sodden material.

  She allowed her head to drop back and arched into his sucking mouth.

  Evan placed one hand at her shoulders and forced her upright again. She stared at him, at a loss to explain the move. Zondra looked over her shoulder at the jerk of his head toward her left, noting the mirror out of the corner of her eye.

  “They are not getting that clear a look at you,” he vowed. His eyes were narrowed, lending a dangerous edge to his appearance.

  That was enough to make her wet for him again. She’d thought overbearing males were a nuisance until she met Evan. Now it seemed she couldn’t get enough of him telling her what to do. She met his gaze solidly. “Yes.” Tell me what you want.

  Evan offered a curt nod. He didn’t tell her what he wanted. He took it. Evan went back to his avid suckling, one hand still planted at her shoulders in a reminder not to drop to her back where Rayn could see her.

  He trailed his lips up her cotton-covered chest to her throat, then to her lips. When he pulled back, Evan picked up his dungaree shirt and shook it out.

  She watched, confused. “What are you doing?”

  His smile was lopsided and accompanied by one raised eyebrow. He didn’t answer aloud, but she started to get a clearer picture when he urged her arms into it and left it open around her body. He resumed his sucking, tugging at her nipples lightly, until musk was running freely down her thighs.

  “Damn this. I can’t wait.” His complaint was muffled in one well-loved breast.

  Evan lifted her, settling Zondra onto the head of his cock. His shirt tickled at the skin just above the back of her knees.

  Blocking Rayn’s view entirely. It was brilliant.

  He smiled in triumph, and Zo
ndra laughed at his competitive streak. Of course, being an alpha, that was to be expected.

  Her laughter died off as he eased her down his cock. A shuddering breath escaped her clenched teeth.

  “Good?” he teased.

  “Mmmm...” It was the most coherent sound she could make.

  Evan moved smoothly, in and out, each stroke burning a trail over her lately underused tissues. Zondra held tight to his arms, her talons dimpling his flesh, her sounds harsh.

  Seir-God, but he is better than I ever thought a male could be the first time we had sex, and it gets better every time he touches me.

  The slow approach didn’t last long; the week apart had taken its toll on both of them. In moments, he was pounding into her, his fingers clenching against her hips as if she might disappear from his arms.

  At least Zondra assumed that was his fear, since it was hers. If someone tried to separate them now, she’d rip the bastard’s throat out with her hunting teeth for the trouble.

  If Evan doesn’t get to him first. The fact that he would kill for her sent pleasant shivers down her spine.

  As if he felt them, Evan’s pace increased by half again, and he grumbled something incoherent. That was all the impetus she needed to shatter around him, her vision graying around the edges and her lungs sluggishly moving heated gasses that seemed to sit too long before the next contraction spurred her to breathe.

  The end was kinetic. His heat sent memories of her quickening through her. Their shouts overlapped and reverberated against her skin, the currents of air caressing her. The effect aroused her all over again.

  Kinetic... and over far too soon. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and buried her face in Evan’s shoulder. How are we going to survive two more hours without touching each other?

  As if in answer, Rayn cleared his throat for attention.

  The speaker and mic didn’t just turn on. How long had he been listening to them?

  As if Evan was asking the same question, he tensed.

  “Now that we’ve taken care of that, please report back to the lab. Tim will lead you to the medical bay. You can spend the rest of the two hours getting the baseline testing out of the way.”

  The electronics shut down just as Evan expelled his response toward them.